Downlink Control for Non Coherent Joint Transmission

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for providing downlink control for non coherent joint transmission. A cellular base station may provide downlink control information associated with a non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication to a wireless device, which may receive the downlink control information. The downlink control information may be provided as a single downlink control information including scheduling information for two data streams of the non coherent joint transmission data communication, or a portion of a multi-stage downlink control information transmission. The wireless device may receive the non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication based at least in part on the downlink control information.

PRIORITY INFORMATION

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/738,616, entitled “Downlink Control for Non Coherent JointTransmission,” filed Sep. 28, 2018, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety as though fully and completely set forthherein.

FIELD

The present application relates to wireless devices, and moreparticularly to apparatus, systems, and methods for providing downlinkcontrol for non coherent joint transmission.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recentyears, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers havebecome increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephonecalls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email,text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system(GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications thatutilize these functionalities. Additionally, there exist numerousdifferent wireless communication technologies and standards. Someexamples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS(associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE,LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD,eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH′, etc.

The ever increasing number of features and functionality introduced inwireless communication devices also creates a continuous need forimprovement in both wireless communications and in wirelesscommunication devices. To increase coverage and better serve theincreasing demand and range of envisioned uses of wirelesscommunication, in addition to the communication standards mentionedabove, there are further wireless communication technologies underdevelopment, including fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR)communication. Accordingly, improvements in the field in support of suchdevelopment and design are desired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods to providedownlink control for non coherent joint transmission.

The techniques described herein include various approaches to providingdownlink control information for non coherent joint transmission datacommunications, including multiple possible downlink control informationformats for each of non coherent joint transmission downlink datacommunications and non coherent joint transmission uplink datacommunications.

The various formats for each of downlink and uplink non coherent jointtransmission data communications may include a single downlink controlinformation transmission, a multi-stage downlink control informationtransmission, and/or multiple downlink control informationtransmissions. Providing multiple such formats may allow for substantialflexibility when scheduling and configuring non coherent jointtransmission communications.

Techniques are also described herein for facilitating determiningwhether non coherent joint transmission is supported by a wirelessdevice, and for determining when to activate or deactivate non coherentjoint transmission, e.g., based on conditions being experienced by thewireless device, among various other techniques described herein.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with anumber of different types of devices, including but not limited tocellular phones, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portablemedia players, and any of various other computing devices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of various embodiments isconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system, accordingto some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a base station (BS) in communication with a userequipment (UE) device, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a BS, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of cellular communicationcircuitry, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example method forproviding downlink control information for non coherent jointtransmission (NCJT), according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example NCJT scenario, in which two transmissionreception points (TRPs) schedule two data streams to a wireless device,according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 8-9 illustrate exemplary aspects of a possible single downlink DCIapproach, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary aspects of a possible multi stage downlinkDCI design, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 11-12 illustrate exemplary aspects of a possible multiple downlinkDCI design, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 13-14 illustrate exemplary aspects of a possible single uplink DCIapproach, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 15 illustrates exemplary aspects of an arrangement in which a UEcan indicate that it supports NCJT operation, according to someembodiments; and

FIG. 16 illustrates how a mechanism for reporting on whether toactivate/deactivate NCJT operation might proceed in an exemplarypossible UE mobility scenario, according to some embodiments.

While the features described herein may be susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Terms

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Wireless Device—any of various types of computer systems or devices thatperform wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (ormobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is anexample of a wireless device.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element (or Processor)—refers to various elements orcombinations of elements that are capable of performing a function in adevice, such as a user equipment or a cellular network device.Processing elements may include, for example: processors and associatedmemory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entireprocessor cores, individual processors, processor arrays, circuits suchas an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), programmablehardware elements such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), aswell any of various combinations of the above.

Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter)to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term“channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a mannerthat is consistent with the standard of the type of device withreference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widthsmay be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions,etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide whileBluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards mayinclude different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standardsmay define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channelsfor uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses suchas data, control information, etc.

Band—The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum)in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Approximately—refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. Forexample, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however,that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be applicationdependent. For example, in some embodiments, “approximately” may meanwithin 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various otherembodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and soforth, as desired or as required by the particular application.

Concurrent—refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks,processes, or programs are performed in an at least partiallyoverlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using“strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at leastpartially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using“weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleavedmanner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component.

FIGS. 1 and 2—Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified example wireless communication system,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 ismerely one example of a possible system, and that features of thisdisclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a basestation 102A which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N. Each of the userdevices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, theuser devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.

The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) orcell site (a “cellular base station”), and may include hardware thatenables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N.

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102A and the UEs 106 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wirelesscommunication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM,UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G new radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000(e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if the base station102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately bereferred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. Note that if the base station 102Ais implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referredto as a ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’.

As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate witha network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, atelecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102A may facilitate communication between the user devicesand/or between the user devices and the network 100. In particular, thecellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with varioustelecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and/or data services.

Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations102B . . . 102N) operating according to the same or a different cellularcommunication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, whichmay provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs106A-N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or morecellular communication standards.

Thus, while base station 102A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs 106A-Nas illustrated in FIG. 1, each UE 106 may also be capable of receivingsignals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or moreother cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-N and/or anyother base stations), which may be referred to as “neighboring cells”.Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication betweenuser devices and/or between user devices and the network 100. Such cellsmay include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and/or cellswhich provide any of various other granularities of service area size.For example, base stations 102A-B illustrated in FIG. 1 might be macrocells, while base station 102N might be a micro cell. Otherconfigurations are also possible.

In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In someembodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core(EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cellmay include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Inaddition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connectedto one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs. For example, it may bepossible that that the base station 102A and one or more other basestations 102 support joint transmission, such that UE 106 may be able toreceive transmissions from multiple base stations (and/or multiple TRPsprovided by the same base station).

Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiplewireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may beconfigured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi)and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellularcommunication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example,WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE 106 may alsoor alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more globalnavigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or moremobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), and/or anyother wireless communication protocol, if desired. Other combinations ofwireless communication standards (including more than two wirelesscommunication standards) are also possible.

FIG. 2 illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106Athrough 106N) in communication with a base station 102, according tosome embodiments. The UE 106 may be a device with cellular communicationcapability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer, alaptop, a tablet, a smart watch or other wearable device, or virtuallyany type of wireless device.

The UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) that isconfigured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executingsuch stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 mayinclude a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA(field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and/or any ofvarious other possible hardware components that are configured toperform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the methodembodiments described herein, or any portion of any of the methodembodiments described herein.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In someembodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, forexample, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. Asadditional possibilities, the UE 106 could be configured to communicateusing CDMA2000 (1×RTT/1×EV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD) or LTE using a single sharedradio and/or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The shared radiomay couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, aradio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RFsignal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers,oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g.,for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly,the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains usingthe aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one ormore parts of a receive and/or transmit chain between multiple wirelesscommunication technologies, such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/orreceive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radiocomponents) for each wireless communication protocol with which it isconfigured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 mayinclude one or more radios which are shared between multiple wirelesscommunication protocols, and one or more radios which are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using eitherof LTE or 5G NR (or either of LTE or 1×RTT, or either of LTE or GSM,among various possibilities), and separate radios for communicatingusing each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are alsopossible.

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of a UE

FIG. 3 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of acommunication device 106, according to some embodiments. It is notedthat the block diagram of the communication device of FIG. 3 is only oneexample of a possible communication device. According to embodiments,communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobiledevice or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, adesktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., alaptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and/or acombination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communicationdevice 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to performcore functions. For example, this set of components may be implementedas a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for variouspurposes. Alternatively, this set of components 300 may be implementedas separate components or groups of components for the various purposes.The set of components 300 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communicationdevice 106.

For example, the communication device 106 may include various types ofmemory (e.g., including NAND flash 310), an input/output interface suchas connector I/F 320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock;charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard;output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display 360, which may beintegrated with or external to the communication device 106, andwireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, UMTS,GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.). In some embodiments,communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (notshown), such as a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet.

The wireless communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antenna(s) 335 as shown. The wireless communication circuitry 330 mayinclude cellular communication circuitry and/or short to medium rangewireless communication circuitry, and may include multiple receivechains and/or multiple transmit chains for receiving and/or transmittingmultiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple output(MIMO) configuration.

In some embodiments, as further described below, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may include one or more receive chains (including and/orcoupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicatedprocessors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chainfor LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in someembodiments, cellular communication circuitry 330 may include a singletransmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specificRATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g.,LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and atransmit chain shared with a second radio. The second radio may bededicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR, and may be in communication witha dedicated receive chain and the shared transmit chain.

The communication device 106 may also include and/or be configured foruse with one or more user interface elements. The user interfaceelements may include any of various elements, such as display 360 (whichmay be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discretekeyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), amouse, a microphone and/or speakers, one or more cameras, one or morebuttons, and/or any of various other elements capable of providinginformation to a user and/or receiving or interpreting user input.

The communication device 106 may further include one or more smart cards345 that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such asone or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards 345.

As shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302, which may executeprogram instructions for the communication device 106 and displaycircuitry 304, which may perform graphics processing and provide displaysignals to the display 360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NANDflash memory 310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as thedisplay circuitry 304, wireless communication circuitry 330, connectorI/F 320, and/or display 360. The MMU 340 may be configured to performmemory protection and page table translation or set up. In someembodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as a portion of theprocessor(s) 302.

As noted above, the communication device 106 may be configured tocommunicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. Asdescribed herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware andsoftware components for implementing any of the various features andtechniques described herein. The processor 302 of the communicationdevice 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the featuresdescribed herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on amemory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively (or in addition), processor 302 may be configured as aprogrammable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable GateArray), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 302 of the communicationdevice 106, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 300,304, 306, 310, 320, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360 may be configured toimplement part or all of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor 302 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, processor 302 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processor 302. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 302.

Further, as described herein, wireless communication circuitry 330 mayinclude one or more processing elements. In other words, one or moreprocessing elements may be included in wireless communication circuitry330. Thus, wireless communication circuitry 330 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof wireless communication circuitry 330. In addition, each integratedcircuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry,etc.) configured to perform the functions of wireless communicationcircuitry 330.

FIG. 4—Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In suchembodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolvedpacket core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. Inaddition, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and mayinclude one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition,a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one ormore TRPs within one or more gNBs.

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured tooperate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured tocommunicate with UE devices 106 via radio 430. The antenna 434communicates with the radio 430 via communication chain 432.Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain orboth. The radio 430 may be configured to communicate via variouswireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5G NR,LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the basestation 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the basestation 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE aswell as a 5G NR radio for performing communication according to 5G NR.In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as bothan LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility,the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and LTE, 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTEand Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing or supportingimplementation of features described herein. The processor 404 of thebase station 102 may be configured to implement or supportimplementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102, in conjunction withone or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or allof the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 404 may include one ormore processing elements. Thus, processor(s) 404 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processor(s) 404. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 404.

Further, as described herein, radio 430 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, radio 430 may include one or more integratedcircuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of radio430. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g.,first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform thefunctions of radio 430.

FIG. 5—Block Diagram of Cellular Communication Circuitry

FIG. 5 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellularcommunication circuitry, according to some embodiments. It is noted thatthe block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of FIG. 5 isonly one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; othercircuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennasfor different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas,or circuits including or coupled to fewer antennas, e.g., that may beshared among multiple RATs, are also possible. According to someembodiments, cellular communication circuitry 330 may be included in acommunication device, such as communication device 106 described above.As noted above, communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE)device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wirelessstation, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computingdevice (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), atablet and/or a combination of devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 a-b and 336 as shown. In some embodiments, cellularcommunication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains(including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly orindirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g.,a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5, cellular communication circuitry 330 mayinclude a first modem 510 and a second modem 520. The first modem 510may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, e.g.,such as LTE or LTE-A, and the second modem 520 may be configured forcommunications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as 5G NR.

As shown, the first modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 anda memory 516 in communication with processors 512. Modem 510 may be incommunication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals.For example, RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 andtransmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 532may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end 550, which mayinclude circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335 a.

Similarly, the second modem 520 may include one or more processors 522and a memory 526 in communication with processors 522. Modem 520 may bein communication with an RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may includecircuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RFfront end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communicationwith DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radiosignals via antenna 335 b.

In some embodiments, a switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 534 touplink (UL) front end 572. In addition, switch 570 may couple transmitcircuitry 544 to UL front end 572. UL front end 572 may includecircuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Thus, whencellular communication circuitry 330 receives instructions to transmitaccording to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via the first modem 510),switch 570 may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmitchain that includes transmit circuitry 534 and UL front end 572).Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry 330 receivesinstructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., as supportedvia the second modem 520), switch 570 may be switched to a second statethat allows the second modem 520 to transmit signals according to thesecond RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry544 and UL front end 572).

As described herein, the first modem 510 and/or the second modem 520 mayinclude hardware and software components for implementing any of thevarious features and techniques described herein. The processors 512,522 may be configured to implement part or all of the features describedherein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memorymedium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively (or in addition), processors 512, 522 may be configured asa programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field ProgrammableGate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).Alternatively (or in addition) the processors 512, 522, in conjunctionwith one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 540, 542, 544,550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may be configured to implement part or all ofthe features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processors 512, 522 may include one ormore processing elements. Thus, processors 512, 522 may include one ormore integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform thefunctions of processors 512, 522. In addition, each integrated circuitmay include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.)configured to perform the functions of processors 512, 522.

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 mayinclude only one transmit/receive chain. For example, the cellularcommunication circuitry 330 may not include the modem 520, the RF frontend 540, the DL front end 560, and/or the antenna 335 b. As anotherexample, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may not include themodem 510, the RF front end 530, the DL front end 550, and/or theantenna 335 a. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry330 may also not include the switch 570, and the RF front end 530 or theRF front end 540 may be in communication, e.g., directly, with the ULfront end 572.

FIG. 6—Downlink Control for Non Coherent Joint Transmission

New cellular communication techniques are continually under development,to increase coverage, to better serve the range of demands and usecases, and for a variety of other reasons. One technique that iscurrently under development may include non coherent joint transmission,in which multiple TRPs can schedule independent data streams to awireless device without joint precoding. As part of such development, itwould be useful to provide a downlink control framework that can supportsuch a technique.

Accordingly, FIG. 6 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example ofsuch a method, at least according to some embodiments. Aspects of themethod of FIG. 6 may be implemented by a wireless device such as a UE106 illustrated in various of the Figures herein, a base station such asa BS 102 illustrated in various of the Figures herein, and/or moregenerally in conjunction with any of the computer circuitry, systems,devices, elements, or components shown in the above Figures, amongothers, as desired. For example, a processor (and/or other hardware) ofsuch a device may be configured to cause the device to perform anycombination of the illustrated method elements and/or other methodelements.

In various embodiments, some of the elements of the methods shown may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than shown, may besubstituted for by other method elements, or may be omitted. Additionalelements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method of FIG.6 may operate as follows.

At 602, a wireless device may receive downlink control information fornon coherent joint transmission. The downlink control information may beprovided in any of a variety of possible formats. At least according tosome embodiments, the wireless device may receive an indication of whichof multiple possible formats is being used to provide the downlinkcontrol information. For example, such information may be broadcast by abase station to which the wireless device is attached in a systeminformation broadcast, among various other possibilities.

As one possible format, the downlink control information may be providedas a single downlink control information transmission that includesscheduling information for multiple downlink data streams of the noncoherent joint transmission data communication. In such a case, thedownlink control information may include separate/independent schedulinginformation for each downlink data stream, or may include schedulinginformation that is common to the two downlink data streams andscheduling information that is specific to each of the two downlink datastreams, e.g., to more efficiently communicate the schedulinginformation.

As another possible format, the downlink control information may beprovided as a multi-stage downlink control information transmission. Insuch a case, the wireless device may receive a first portion of themulti-stage downlink control information transmission as well as asecond portion of the multi-stage downlink control informationtransmission. The first portion may include scheduling information for afirst downlink data stream of the non coherent joint transmission datacommunication, while the second portion may include schedulinginformation for a second downlink data stream of the non coherent jointtransmission data communication. According to some embodiments, thefirst portion may include information indicating the existence of thesecond portion, and/or may include downlink control informationconfiguration information for the second portion. In some instances, thesecond portion may omit scheduling information for the second downlinkdata stream that is in common with the first downlink data stream, e.g.,to more efficiently signal the downlink control information. If desired,the time and frequency resources on which the second portion areprovided may be predetermined relative to time and frequency resourceson which the first portion are provided, e.g., to simplify the decodingprocess for the wireless device.

As a still further possibility, multiple downlink control informationtransmissions may be provided to the wireless device in conjunction withthe non coherent joint transmission data communication. For example, thedownlink control information received by the wireless device may includefirst downlink control information for a first downlink data stream ofthe non coherent joint transmission data communication and separatesecond downlink control information for a second downlink data stream ofthe non coherent joint transmission data communication. The firstdownlink control information may include information indicating theexistence of the second downlink control information, and the seconddownlink control information may include information indicating theexistence of the first downlink control information. Further, the firstdownlink control information may include configuration information forthe second downlink control information, and the second downlink controlinformation may include configuration information for the first downlinkcontrol information, at least according to some embodiments. It may bethe case that time and frequency resources on which the second downlinkcontrol information is provided are predetermined relative to time andfrequency resources on which the first downlink control information isprovided, e.g., to simplify the decoding process for the wirelessdevice. In some instances, the second downlink control information mayomit scheduling information for the second downlink data stream of thenon coherent joint transmission data communication that is in commonwith the first downlink data stream of the non coherent jointtransmission data communication.

As one possible benefit (at least according to some embodiments) ofsupporting a downlink control information format for non coherent jointtransmission in which multiple downlink control informationtransmissions are provided, such a format may possibly enable support ofnon coherent joint transmission with TRPs that have a relatively lowlevel of scheduling coordination. In such a case, it may further bebeneficial to provide a mechanism for semi-statically partitioningreference signal ports between TRPs associated with a non coherent jointtransmission. For example, in a scenario in which a first downlink datastream is associated with a first TRP and a second downlink data streamis associated with a second TRP, reference signal ports may besemi-statically partitioned between the first TRP and the second TRP,and an indication of the partitioning of the reference signal portsbetween the first TRP and the second TRP may be provided to the wirelessdevice.

It may also be possible for the downlink control information to beassociated with a non coherent joint transmission uplink datacommunication, according to some embodiments. Similar to downlinkcontrol information associated with a non coherent joint transmissiondownlink data communication, there may be multiple possible formats thatcan be used for such downlink control information, at least according tosome embodiments.

For example, as one possibility, the downlink control information mayinclude a single downlink control information transmission scheduling asingle non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication tomultiple distributed reception points.

As another possibility, the downlink control information may be amulti-stage downlink control information transmission, e.g., including afirst portion that schedules a first uplink data stream to a first TRPand a second portion that schedules a second uplink data stream to asecond TRP. In such a scenario, the second portion may includeincremental configuration information for the second uplink data streamrelative to the first uplink data stream, such that configurationinformation for the second uplink data stream that is in common with thefirst uplink data stream may be omitted from the second portion.

As a still further possibility, multiple downlink control informationtransmissions may be provided for the non coherent joint transmissionuplink data communication, e.g., such that the wireless device mayreceive first downlink control information for a first uplink datastream of the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication,and may separately receive second downlink control information for asecond uplink data stream of the non coherent joint transmission uplinkdata communication transmission.

In some instances, the downlink control information for the non coherentjoint transmission uplink data communication may include beamconfiguration information for the non coherent joint transmission uplinkdata communication. For example, the downlink control information mayinclude downlink reference signal index information indicating adownlink beam for a downlink reference signal, which may be consideredan indication of a beam configuration to use for at least a portion ofthe non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication (e.g., foran uplink data stream that is transmitted to a TRP that provides thedownlink reference signal via the downlink beam). Thus, the wirelessdevice may use the downlink beam for the downlink reference signal as anuplink beam to transmit at least a portion of the non coherent jointtransmission uplink data communication based at least in part on thedownlink reference signal index information. In some instances, similarconfiguration information may be received for each of multiple uplinkbeams to be used for multiple uplink data streams of the non coherentjoint transmission uplink data communication.

In some instances, the downlink control information may potentiallysupport a flexible MIMO layer to codeword mapping scheme. For example,the downlink control information could include any or all of MIMO layer,MIMO codeword, and/or MIMO layer-to-codeword mapping information for thenon coherent joint transmission data streams.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control information mayinclude transmission reception point (TRP) index information for the noncoherent joint transmission downlink data communication. The TRP indexinformation may indicate which downlink data of the non coherent jointtransmission downlink data communication is transmitted by which TRP.

At least according to some embodiments, the wireless device may exchangesignaling with the cellular network to determine whether non coherentjoint transmission data communication is supported by both the wirelessdevice and the cellular network, and/or to determine whether to activatenon coherent joint transmission data communication, e.g., as a precursorto provision of the downlink control information for the non coherentjoint transmission data communication. In such a case, the wirelessdevice may provide capability information, such as informationindicating whether the wireless device supports simultaneous multiplebeam transmission, whether the wireless device can transmit non coherentjoint transmission beams associated with different antenna panels of thewireless device or the same antenna panel of the wireless device,whether the wireless device supports non coherent joint transmissionuplink communication, and/or whether the wireless device supports noncoherent joint transmission downlink communication.

If non coherent joint transmission is supported, and support is furtherprovided for indicating whether to activate or deactivate non coherentjoint transmission, it may further be the case that the wireless deviceprovides a request to activate non coherent joint transmission, e.g., ifthe wireless device determines non coherent joint transmission would bebeneficial. In such a scenario, the cellular base station may provide anindication to activate non coherent joint transmission in response tothe request, and the non coherent joint transmission communication maybe performed based at least in part on the request to activate noncoherent joint transmission and the indication to activate non coherentjoint transmission. The wireless device may determine to requestactivation of non coherent joint transmission based on any of a varietyof possible considerations, such as if the wireless device determinesthat a TRP strength difference between two TRPs is within a firstthreshold, if the wireless device determines that an uplink data bufferof the wireless device exceeds a buffer fullness threshold, and/or forany of various other possible reasons. Note additionally that it may bepossible for a wireless device to support either, both, or neither ofnon coherent joint transmission uplink communication and downlinkcommunication, and/or for each of non coherent joint transmission uplinkcommunication and downlink communication to be activated/deactivatedseparately/independently or jointly, as desired.

Note that even when non coherent joint transmission is activated, it maybe possible for a given data stream to be (e.g., temporarily) disabled.For example, a field of the downlink control information could be set toa reserved value to indicate that a downlink data stream associated withthat portion of the downlink control information is disabled, as onepossibility. Other techniques for signaling such possible disabling of adata stream of a non coherent joint transmission communication are alsopossible.

Similarly, the wireless device may be able to request deactivation ofnon coherent joint transmission, e.g., if the wireless device determinesnon coherent joint transmission would no longer be sufficientlybeneficial. In such a scenario, the wireless device may provide arequest to deactivate non coherent joint transmission, and may receivean indication to deactivate non coherent joint transmission in responseto the request to deactivate non coherent joint transmission. Therequest to deactivate non coherent joint transmission may be based on aTRP strength difference between two TRPs exceeding a predeterminedthreshold, an uplink data buffer of the wireless device being below abuffer fullness threshold, and/or for any of various other possiblereasons.

At 604, the wireless device may perform the non coherent jointtransmission data communication, e.g., based at least in part on thedownlink control information associated with the non coherent jointtransmission data communication. For example, performing the noncoherent joint transmission data communication may include usingscheduling information, configuration information, and/or otherparameters/information provided in the downlink control informationassociated with the non coherent joint transmission data communication.

Thus, the wireless device may receive a non coherent joint transmissiondownlink data communication, e.g., if the downlink control informationis associated with a non coherent joint transmission downlink datacommunication. Alternatively, the wireless device may transmit a noncoherent joint transmission uplink data communication, e.g., if thedownlink control information is associated with a non coherent jointtransmission uplink data communication.

FIGS. 7-16 and Additional Information

FIGS. 7-16 illustrate further aspects that might be used in conjunctionwith the method of FIG. 6 if desired. It should be noted, however, thatthe exemplary details illustrated in and described with respect to FIGS.7-16 are not intended to be limiting to the disclosure as a whole:numerous variations and alternatives to the details provided hereinbelow are possible and should be considered within the scope of thedisclosure.

Non coherent joint transmission (NCJT) is a topic under consideration atleast for 3GPP cellular communication, for example in conjunction with3GPP release 16. FIG. 7 illustrates an example NCJT scenario, e.g., inwhich two TRPs schedule two data streams without joint precoding to awireless device. Design of a non coherent joint transmission frameworkmay include a variety of considerations, e.g., potentially includingdownlink control (e.g., physical downlink control channel and DCI)design, uplink feedback (e.g., physical uplink control channel andACK/NAK) design, channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)configuration design, and channel state information (CSI) feedbackdesign, among various possibilities.

Each such design area may itself include a variety of considerations.For example, for the downlink control framework, downlink DCI design anduplink DCI design may need to be considered, as well as at least someoverall NCJT operation considerations.

For the downlink DCI design, there may be several possible approaches,including a single DCI design, a multi-stage DCI design, and/or amultiple DCI design.

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary aspects of a possible single DCI approach.In such an approach, a UE may decode a single DCI transmission (e.g.,from just one of the multiple TRPs) with scheduling information for bothdata streams. As shown, such an approach may include schedulingcoordination support between the TRPs, e.g., such that the TRP providingthe DCI is able to provide the scheduling information for both datastreams in the DCI.

Such a single DCI transmission may be formatted in a variety of ways. Asone possibility, a single DCI that includes independent schedulinginformation for each data stream, potentially including (but not limitedto) frequency/time resource allocation, modulation and coding scheme(MCS), new data indicator (NDI), redundancy version (RV), hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, antenna port, etc.

As another possibility, a single DCI that includes some information thatis in common for the two data streams and some information that isdifferent for the two data streams could be used. For example, the twodata streams might have the same frequency/time resource allocation, butdifferent MCS/NDI/RV, HARQ process number, antenna ports, etc. It may bepossible for such a format to be more compact than a format in whichscheduling information for each data stream is independently provided,though some scheduling flexibility may be lost to achieve suchcompactness.

As a still further possibility, it may be possible to at least partiallyreuse an existing DCI format, but with different MIMO layer/codewordmapping to support scheduling the data streams. For example, differentlayers can be mapped to different TRPs, different codewords can bemapped to different TRPs. Note that to support such mappings betweenlayers/codewords and data streams, it may be useful to provide moreoptions/a more flexible mapping between layers and codewords, e.g., incomparison to a current NR arrangement in which 1 codeword is allocatedfor up to 4 MIMO layers and 2 codewords are allocated otherwise.

Note that it may be possible for multiple such single DCI formats to besupported, and for support for switching between such DCI formats to besupported, e.g., by way of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, mediaaccess control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling, or via DCI itself.As another possibility, a NCJT DCI format used by a cellular basestation could be signaled as part of system information (e.g., in one ormore system information blocks (SIBs)).

Note that for a single DCI format, the quasi-collocated (QCL)configuration may be independently configured for each TRP. QCL mayallow a UE to assume that two RS share the similar channel properties(e.g., delay, doppler, etc.). Thus, since the streams from the differentTRPs may generally have different channel properties, each TRP may beconfigured with different DMRS ports (e.g., a group of DMRS ports), andQCL information regarding DMRS that belong to each TRP, and thecorresponding CSI-RS, may be independently configured. This may allow aUE to determine which CSI-RS and PDSCH/DMRS transmissions are QCL, suchas illustrated in FIG. 9.

It may also be useful to support NCJT operation mode switching, e.g.,such that the network is allowed to schedule a single TRP or two TRP toa UE dynamically. The DCI size for single TRP and two TRP scheduling maydiffer. The network can configure independent DCI for single TRP and twoTRP scheduling. The single DCI can contain an explicit field thatindicates which TRP is being scheduled. In some instances, a single DCIformat may include a mechanism to disable a TRP by setting a selectedDCI field (e.g., resource allocation, MCS/RV/NDI, etc.) to a reservedvalue, thereby implicitly indicating that the TRP indicated as beingscheduled is actually being disabled.

As previously noted, a multi stage downlink DCI design for NCJT may alsobe possible. FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary aspects of one such possiblemulti stage downlink DCI design. In such a design, a first (e.g., main)DCI portion of the downlink control information may contain partialinformation for scheduling the two data streams, while a second (e.g.,additional) DCI portion of the downlink control information may providethe remainder of the scheduling information, such that the fullscheduling information may be available once both DCI portions have beendecoded. The two DCIs may be provided by the same TRP or by differentTRPs, which may in either case coordinate scheduling, as shown in FIG.10.

As one possibility, the first DCI may contain all of the schedulinginformation for the data stream for one of the TRPs, as well as an extrafield to indicate the presence of the second TRP and the additional DCIthat will provide additional scheduling information for scheduling thedata stream for the other of the TRPs. The extra field can also providefurther details on the DCI configuration for the second DCI, e.g.,regarding the control resource set (CORESET), aggregation level, etc.,to assist the UE with decoding the second DCI.

In some instances, the second DCI can have a smaller size, e.g., ascommon information with the first DCI may be omitted. For example,carrier ID information, bandwidth part (BWP) information, resourceallocation, rate matching, virtual resource block (VRB) mapping,physical resource block (PRB) bundling, and/or any of various otherparameters could be omitted from the second DCI portion, e.g., if theyare the same for the second data stream as indicated in the first DCIportion for the first data stream.

In some instances, it may be possible for the first DCI portion and thesecond DCI portion to have resource (e.g., frequency and/or time)allocations that are implicitly linked, such that once the first DCIportion has been decoded, a UE can readily determine the resourceallocation for the second DCI portion. For example, a time divisionmultiplexing approach in which the two DCI occupy the same frequencyresource(s) in adjacent symbols could be used. As another possibility, afrequency division multiplexing approach in which the two DCI occupyadjacent frequency resources in the same symbol(s) could be used.Examples of such possible implicit resource allocation linkages are alsoillustrated in FIG. 10.

As previously noted, a downlink DCI design for NCJT in which multipleDCI are provided is also possible, e.g., such that each DCI schedulesthe data stream from the corresponding TRP independently. FIGS. 11-12illustrate exemplary aspects of one such possible multiple downlink DCIdesign. As shown, in such a design, a first DCI provided by a first TRPmay schedule a first data stream to the UE, while a second DCI providedby a second TRP may schedule a second data stream to the UE.

Such a configuration may be possible when the TRPs are not able todynamically coordinate scheduling decisions, e.g., due to backhauldelays, and may thus be more practical in such scenarios, at least insome instances. Since the TRPs may not dynamically coordinate schedulingdecisions, it may be the case that DMRS (e.g., up to 12 ports) andCSI-RS (e.g., up to 32 ports) configurations may be semi-staticallyconfigured/partitioned between the TRPs, possibly in a mannertransparent to the UE. As another possibility, the semi-staticpartitioned DMRS ports can be signaled to the UE to reduce DCI size.

The CORESET and search space can be independently configured for eachDCI. This may facilitate coexistence between NCJT and non-NCJToperation, and reduce required UE complexity. In some instances, theresource allocations for the two DCI can be implicitly linked, e.g., asshown in FIG. 11, in a time division multiplexing manner, in a frequencydivision multiplexing manner, or in any of various other possible waysof implicitly linking the resource allocations for the two DCI.

As shown in FIG. 12, in some instances each DCI may include an extrafield (E) to indicate the existence of the other DCI. Providing such anindicator may help reduce the DCI decoding complexity e.g., by providingmore details on DCI configuration, such as CORESET, aggregation level,etc., for the other DCI. Additionally or alternatively, such anindicator may help facilitate detection of DCI misdetection errors,e.g., by enabling the UE to determine when a DCI is provided but notdecoded.

Note that the two DCI may have different sizes. For example, the firstDCI may schedule the first TRP, including the common schedulinginformation between the first TRP and the second TRP. The second DCI mayschedule the second TRP with only the incremental information, e.g.,such that common information may be omitted. Depending on theconfiguration, any or all of carrier ID, BWP ID, resource allocation,rate matching, VRB mapping, PRB bundling, etc., may thus be included inthe common information provided in the first DCI (e.g., if the same forboth data streams) or may be included in both the first DCI and thesecond DCI (e.g., if different for the different data streams).

For uplink DCI, similar format possibilities may be possible as fordownlink DCI, at least according to some embodiments. For example, asone possibility, a single DCI design may be used, in which a single DCIschedules an uplink data stream. FIG. 13 illustrates exemplary aspectsof one such possible single uplink DCI design. In such an arrangement,the multiple TRPs can serve as distributed reception points to enhancePUSCH decoding performance.

As another possibility, a two stage uplink DCI may be used. The firststage DCI may schedule a first uplink data stream, potentially includingthe common scheduling information between the first uplink data streamand a second uplink data stream. The first stage DCI may also indicatethe existence of a second stage DCI. The second stage DCI may schedulethe incremental scheduling information for the second uplink datastream.

As still another possibility, two separate uplink DCI may be used. EachDCI may schedule an uplink data stream corresponding to an individualTRP independently.

In some instances, a new transmission configuration indicator (TCI) maybe provided for uplink DCI communications. The TCI may indicate aCSI-RS/SSB index. The UE may in turn use the corresponding receive beamassociated with the CSI-RS/SSB index to transmit the uplink data stream.Thus, it may be possible for multiple uplink data streams to beconfigured with different beam configurations, e.g., as uplink streamscorresponding to different TRPs may be configured with different TCI orsounding reference symbol (SRS) index (SRI) values. FIG. 14 illustratesexemplary aspects of such a configuration in which multiple uplink datastreams having different beam configurations are transmitted by a UE.

NCJT operation may increase throughput for UE devices, while alsogenerally increasing UE complexity and power consumption. For example,the UE may be expected to monitor multiple DCI and decode multiplephysical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) simultaneously, and may needto activate multiple antenna panels in order to receive the multiplePDSCH. It may be the case that only a portion of UEs support NCJToperation, e.g., at least initially. Accordingly, it may be useful toprovide a mechanism for indicating whether a UE supports NCJT. FIG. 15illustrates exemplary aspects of such an arrangement in which a UE canindicate that it supports NCJT operation.

Additionally, given the increased complexity and power consumption ofNCJT operation, a UE that is capable of NCJT operation may not alwayswish to enable NCJT operation. Thus, it may further be useful to providea mechanism for a UE to signal a request to activate or deactivate NCJTfor any of various reasons, such as the UE uplink buffer status (e.g.,if it is lower or higher than a threshold for a certain period of time),UE battery status, UE thermal status, etc. Support for such signalingcould be provided by use of temporary capability support signaling,e.g., to indicate whether a UE supports NCJT, and/or simultaneousoperation of multiple antenna panels. Such signaling could beinterpreted as a request (e.g., to activate NCJT if support is indicatedby the UE, or to deactivate NCJT if support is not indicated by the UE)by the network.

The network may also have discretion as to whether to activate ordeactivate NCJT dynamically. Such activation/deactivation could beimplemented via RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, and/or via DCIsignaling.

If desired, the network could also configure measurement reports to helpwith the decision whether to activate or deactivate NCJT. For example,at least according to some embodiments, NCJT operation may be mosteffective when the difference between signal strength/quality for twoTRPs is relatively small at a UE, and may be less effective when thedifference between signal strength/quality for two TRPs is relativelylarge. Thus, a UE could be configured to report when the measurementdifference for two TRPs is within a threshold (hysteresis) for a certainperiod of time (time to trigger), which could be taken underconsideration as an indicator in favor of activating (or converselyagainst deactivating) NCJT by the network. Similarly, a UE could beconfigured to report when the measurement difference for two TRPsexceeds a threshold (hysteresis) for a certain period of time (time totrigger), which could be taken under consideration as an indicator infavor of deactivating (or conversely against activating) NCJT by thenetwork. FIG. 16 illustrates how such a reporting mechanism mightproceed in an exemplary possible UE mobility scenario, as an example.

The network could also or alternatively configure UE reporting when theUE uplink buffer is lower than a certain threshold, and/or higher than acertain (e.g., same or different) threshold, for a certain period oftime, as an indicator regarding whether to activate/deactivate NCJToperation for the UE. The network may also or alternatively consider thedownlink buffer status (e.g., similarly whether its size is lower orhigher than one or more thresholds for a certain period of time) for aUE as an indicator regarding whether to activate/deactivate NCJToperation for the UE.

Note that activation and deactivation of NCJT can be configuredindependently for each BWP for a UE, if desired.

When NCJT operation is activated, each TRP may have its own independentHARQ entity (with each HARQ entity containing multiple HARQ processes),at least according to some embodiments. For each data stream scheduling,the DCI may indicate a TRP index, which can be used to schedule crossTRP retransmissions, if desired.

Note that independent receive and transmit beam configurations can beused for the PDSCH/PUSCH corresponding to an individual TRP. Thus, eachPDSCH can be configured with its own TCI, and each PUSCH can beconfigured with its own SRI.

In some embodiments, UE measurement reporting may include whethermultiple beams can be received or transmitted simultaneously. The reportcould be different for RX and TX, for example, if the two beams aresupported for simultaneous reception but not transmission, or viceversa. Additionally or alternatively, reporting on whether beams belongto the same or different antenna panels could be supported/configured.Such reporting may be useful, at least in some instances, as beams inthe same antenna panel may require less switching time compared to beamsin different antenna panels. This may in turn affect scheduling, orpossibly even whether the multiple beams are supported.

In the following further exemplary embodiments are provided.

One set of embodiments may include a method, comprising: by a wirelessdevice: receiving downlink control information associated with a noncoherent joint transmission downlink data communication; and receive thenon coherent joint transmission downlink data communication based atleast in part on the downlink control information.

Another set of embodiments may include a method, comprising: by acellular base station: providing downlink control information associatedwith a non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication to awireless device; and transmitting a first portion of the non coherentjoint transmission downlink data communication.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises downlink a single downlink control information transmissioncomprising scheduling information for two data streams of the noncoherent joint transmission data communication.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises independent scheduling information for the two data streams.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises scheduling information that is common to the two data streamsand scheduling information that is specific to each of the two datastreams.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layer and/or codewordmapping information for the two data streams.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layer to codewordmapping information for the two data streams.

According to some embodiments, an indication of a downlink controlinformation format for the downlink control information transmission isprovided to the wireless device.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises transmission reception point (TRP) index information for thenon coherent joint transmission downlink data communication, wherein theTRP index information indicates which downlink data of the non coherentjoint transmission downlink data communication is transmitted by whichTRP.

According to some embodiments, at least one field of the downlinkcontrol information is set to a reserved value to indicate that adownlink data stream associated with that portion of the downlinkcontrol information is disabled.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises a first portion of a multi-stage downlink control informationtransmission, wherein a second portion of the multi-stage downlinkcontrol information transmission is also provided to the wirelessdevice.

According to some embodiments, the first portion comprises schedulinginformation for a first data stream of the non coherent jointtransmission data communication, wherein the second portion comprisesscheduling information for a second data stream of the non coherentjoint transmission data communication.

According to some embodiments, the first portion comprises informationindicating the existence of the second portion.

According to some embodiments, the first portion comprises downlinkcontrol information configuration information for the second portion.

According to some embodiments, time and frequency resources on which thesecond portion are provided are predetermined relative to time andfrequency resources on which the first portion are provided.

According to some embodiments, the second portion omits schedulinginformation for the second data stream of the non coherent jointtransmission data communication that is in common with the first datastream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises first downlink control information for a first data stream ofthe non coherent joint transmission data communication, wherein seconddownlink control information for a second data stream of the noncoherent joint transmission data communication transmission isseparately provided to the wireless device.

According to some embodiments, downlink control informationconfiguration for the first downlink control information and the seconddownlink control information are independently configured.

According to some embodiments, time and frequency resources on which thesecond downlink control information is provided are predeterminedrelative to time and frequency resources on which the first downlinkcontrol information is provided.

According to some embodiments, the first downlink control informationcomprises information indicating the existence of the second downlinkcontrol information, wherein the second downlink control informationcomprises information indicating the existence of the first downlinkcontrol information.

According to some embodiments, the first downlink control informationcomprises configuration information for the second downlink controlinformation, wherein the second downlink control information comprisesconfiguration information for the first downlink control information.

According to some embodiments, the second downlink control informationomits scheduling information for the second data stream of the noncoherent joint transmission data communication that is in common withthe first data stream of the non coherent joint transmission datacommunication.

According to some embodiments, the first data stream is associated witha first transmission reception point (TRP), wherein the second datastream is associated with a second TRP, wherein reference signal portsare semi-statically partitioned between the first TRP and the secondTRP, wherein an indication of the partitioning of the reference signalports between the first TRP and the second TRP is provided to thewireless device.

Yet another set of embodiments may include a method, comprising: by awireless device: receiving downlink control information associated witha non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication; andtransmitting the non coherent joint transmission uplink datacommunication based at least in part on the downlink controlinformation.

Still another set of embodiments may include a method, comprising: by acellular base station: providing downlink control information associatedwith a non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication to awireless device; and receiving at least a first portion of the noncoherent joint transmission uplink data communication.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises a single downlink control information transmission schedulinga single non coherent joint transmission data communication to multipledistributed reception points.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises a first portion of a multi-stage downlink control informationtransmission, wherein the first portion schedules a first uplink datastream to a first transmission reception point (TRP), wherein a secondportion of the multi-stage downlink control information transmission isalso provided to the wireless device, wherein the second portionschedules a second uplink data stream to a second TRP, wherein thesecond portion comprises incremental configuration information for thesecond uplink data stream relative to the first uplink data stream,wherein configuration information for the second uplink data stream thatis in common with the first uplink data stream is omitted from thesecond portion.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises first downlink control information for a first uplink datastream of the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication,wherein second downlink control information for a second uplink datastream of the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communicationtransmission is separately provided to the wireless device.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises beam configuration information for the non coherent jointtransmission uplink data communication.

According to some embodiments, the downlink control informationcomprises downlink reference signal index information indicating adownlink beam for a downlink reference signal, wherein the downlink beamfor the downlink reference signal is also used as an uplink beam totransmit at least a portion of the non coherent joint transmissionuplink data communication based at least in part on the downlinkreference signal index information.

According to some embodiments, the wireless device provides a request toactivate non coherent joint transmission, wherein the cellular basestation provides an indication to activate non coherent jointtransmission, wherein the non coherent joint transmission communicationis performed based at least in part on the request to activate noncoherent joint transmission and the indication to activate non coherentjoint transmission.

According to some embodiments, the request to activate non coherentjoint transmission is based at least in part on one or more of: thewireless device determining that a transmission reception point (TRP)strength difference between two TRPs is within a first threshold; or thewireless device determining that an uplink data buffer of the wirelessdevice exceeds a buffer fullness threshold.

According to some embodiments, at a later time, the wireless deviceprovides a request to deactivate non coherent joint transmission,wherein, at the later time, the cellular base station provides anindication to deactivate non coherent joint transmission.

According to some embodiments, the request to deactivate non coherentjoint transmission is based at least in part on one or more of: thewireless device determining that a transmission reception point (TRP)strength difference between two TRPs exceeds a predetermined threshold;or the wireless device determining that an uplink data buffer of thewireless device is below a buffer fullness threshold.

According to some embodiments, the wireless device provides informationindicating whether the wireless device supports simultaneous multiplebeam transmission.

According to some embodiments, the wireless device provides informationindicating whether beams of the non coherent joint transmission areassociated with different antenna panels of the wireless device or thesame antenna panel of the wireless device.

Another exemplary embodiment may include a device, comprising: anantenna; a radio coupled to the antenna; and a processing elementoperably coupled to the radio, wherein the device is configured toimplement any or all parts of the preceding examples.

Yet another exemplary embodiment may include a method, comprising: by adevice: performing any or all parts of the preceding examples.

A yet further exemplary embodiment may include a non-transitory computeraccessible memory medium comprising program instructions which, whenexecuted at a device, cause the device to implement any or all parts ofany of the preceding examples.

A still further exemplary embodiment may include a computer programcomprising instructions for performing any or all parts of any of thepreceding examples.

Yet another exemplary embodiment may include an apparatus comprisingmeans for performing any or all of the elements of any of the precedingexamples.

Still another exemplary embodiment may include an apparatus comprising aprocessing element configured to cause a wireless device to perform anyor all of the elements of any of the preceding examples.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106 or BS 102) may beconfigured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memorymedium, where the memory medium stores program instructions, where theprocessor is configured to read and execute the program instructionsfrom the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless device, comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and a processor coupled to the at least one radio; wherein the wireless device is configured to: receive downlink control information associated with a non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication; and receive the non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication based at least in part on the downlink control information.
 2. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the downlink control information comprises transmission reception point (TRP) index information for the non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication, wherein the TRP index information indicates which downlink data of the non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication is transmitted by which TRP.
 3. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the downlink control information comprises a first portion of a multi-stage downlink control information transmission, wherein the wireless device is further configured to: receive a second portion of the multi-stage downlink control information transmission, wherein the first portion comprises scheduling information for a first data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication, wherein the second portion comprises scheduling information for a second data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication, wherein the first portion comprises information indicating the existence of the second portion, wherein the first portion comprises downlink control information configuration information for the second portion, wherein the second portion omits scheduling information for the second data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication that is in common with the first data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication.
 4. The wireless device of claim 3, wherein time and frequency resources on which the second portion are provided are predetermined relative to time and frequency resources on which the first portion are provided.
 5. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the downlink control information comprises first downlink control information for a first data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication, wherein the wireless device is further configured to: receive second downlink control information for a second data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication separately from the first downlink control information, wherein the first downlink control information comprises information indicating the existence of the second downlink control information, wherein the second downlink control information comprises information indicating the existence of the first downlink control information, wherein the first downlink control information comprises configuration information for the second downlink control information, wherein the second downlink control information comprises configuration information for the first downlink control information.
 6. The wireless device of claim 5, wherein time and frequency resources on which the second downlink control information is provided are predetermined relative to time and frequency resources on which the first downlink control information is provided.
 7. The wireless device of claim 5, wherein the second downlink control information omits scheduling information for the second data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication that is in common with the first data stream of the non coherent joint transmission data communication.
 8. The wireless device of claim 5, wherein the first data stream is associated with a first transmission reception point (TRP), wherein the second data stream is associated with a second TRP, wherein reference signal ports are semi-statically partitioned between the first TRP and the second TRP, wherein an indication of the partitioning of the reference signal ports between the first TRP and the second TRP is provided to the wireless device.
 9. A cellular base station, comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and a processor coupled to the at least one radio; wherein the cellular base station is configured to: provide downlink control information associated with a non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication to a wireless device, provide an indication of a downlink control information format for the downlink control information transmission to the wireless device; and transmit a first portion of the non coherent joint transmission downlink data communication.
 10. The cellular base station of claim 9, wherein the downlink control information comprises a single downlink control information transmission comprising scheduling information for two data streams of the non coherent joint transmission data communication.
 11. The cellular base station of claim 9, wherein the downlink control information for the two data streams comprises one or more of: multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layer mapping information; MIMO codeword mapping information; or MIMO layer to codeword mapping information.
 12. The cellular base station of claim 9, wherein at least one field of the downlink control information is set to a reserved value to indicate that a downlink data stream associated with that portion of the downlink control information is disabled.
 13. An apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to cause a wireless device to: receive downlink control information associated with a non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication; and transmit the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication based at least in part on the downlink control information.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the downlink control information comprises a single downlink control information transmission scheduling a single non coherent joint transmission data communication to multiple distributed reception points.
 15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the downlink control information comprises a first portion of a multi-stage downlink control information transmission, wherein the first portion schedules a first uplink data stream to a first transmission reception point (TRP), wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: receive a second portion of the multi-stage downlink control information transmission, wherein the second portion schedules a second uplink data stream to a second TRP, wherein the second portion comprises incremental configuration information for the second uplink data stream relative to the first uplink data stream, wherein configuration information for the second uplink data stream that is in common with the first uplink data stream is omitted from the second portion.
 16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the downlink control information comprises first downlink control information for a first uplink data stream of the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: receive second downlink control information for a second uplink data stream of the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication transmission separately from the first downlink control information.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the downlink control information comprises beam configuration information for the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication, wherein the downlink control information comprises downlink reference signal index information indicating a downlink beam for a downlink reference signal, wherein the downlink beam for the downlink reference signal is also used as an uplink beam to transmit at least a portion of the non coherent joint transmission uplink data communication based at least in part on the downlink reference signal index information.
 18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: provide a request to activate non coherent joint transmission; and receive an indication to activate non coherent joint transmission in response to the request to activate non coherent joint transmission, wherein the non coherent joint transmission communication is performed based at least in part on the request to activate non coherent joint transmission and the indication to activate non coherent joint transmission, wherein the request to activate non coherent joint transmission is provided based at least in part on one or more of: a transmission reception point (TRP) strength difference between two TRPs being within a first threshold; or an uplink data buffer of the wireless device exceeding a buffer fullness threshold.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to, at a later time: provide a request to deactivate non coherent joint transmission; and receive an indication to deactivate non coherent joint transmission in response to the request to deactivate non coherent joint transmission, wherein the request to deactivate non coherent joint transmission is based at least in part on one or more of: a transmission reception point (TRP) strength difference between two TRPs exceeding a predetermined threshold; or an uplink data buffer of the wireless device being below a buffer fullness threshold.
 20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: provide information indicating one or more of: whether the wireless device supports simultaneous multiple beam transmission; or whether beams of the non coherent joint transmission are associated with different antenna panels of the wireless device or the same antenna panel of the wireless device. 